Less is More. Ray Allen only 1 FGA in Game 3.

[thestackshow]

Is our team better with Ray Allen? Of course.

We need him to win that title. Thats something we all can agree on.

But the days of "running offensive plays for Ray Allen" needs to come to an end, and I think Doc realized this.

Ray's plays basically involved Rondo sitting at the top of the key while waiting for Ray to come off of multiple screens. That is what you call stagnant offense, when nobody besides Ray and Rondo are involved in the play.

We saw a ton of ball movement, a ton of speed, a ton of transition buckets, and basically a brilliant offensive game that never had any droughts, or luls of "dang, we cant score for 8 minutes"

Ray only had 3 or so points last night, but I didnt matter, our main focus was and needs to continue to be getting inside for easy buckets, getting KG established in the post, and getting to the free throw line.

I love Ray Allen, but its been pretty clear for awhile now that his style of play is more suited to "end of game, 4th quarter situations" then it is when trying to build a lead.

[pearljammer10]

I hate the idea of this....But im not gonna lie, Ray has gone way down in my book after the all star break. I agree and think we are a better team without ray allen getting too many minutes.

[Senninsage]

Oh god, when will people learn? When will they learn? We are not a better team when Ray Allen plays less minutes. We are not a better team when we don't involve him in our offense.

No, his game is not best suited to late game 4th quarter situations. Ray Allen is quite possibly the most important piece in building a lead for this team. When Ray's threes drop early that makes us far more difficult to beat. With Ray on the court, certain options are available to us offensively that simply aren't otherwise.

Ray has made a number of big shots and huge plays for us that have helped us time and time again, and has helped us as recently as the Hawks series, and even in this series so far. Ray, in the game 2 that was lost, was one of our leading scorers. In fact, he ended up as our lead scorer, period.

He was 7-14 from the field, and he knocked down 2 three pointers for us. Yes, he missed some shots, but who on this team hasn't been missing some shots here and there? And when his free throw shooting gets back on track, he's a guaranteed, in some cases, 100% from that free throw line for us.

Why are people so reactionary and demonstrate such wild swings based on such small sample sizes? It was only just a few hours ago that people were saying that Pierce was terrible and needed to be benched. Nobody seems to criticize Ray when he helps us win games. Even in our second loss to the Hawks in the previous Series, Ray gave us 15 points...

People have to realize how important Ray is to this team. We won in blowout fashion because that's just how it happened. It isn't because Ray took less shots, or was on the court less. And in our blowout win over the hawks, he was 2-3 from 3 point range and gave us 12 points off the bench.

[rayallen1934]

Im 100% fine with the way Ray Allen is playing. Hes obviously injured.

Garnett told Allen he would get him more shots, but Allen told him to keep doing what were doing!

If teams want to focus and shut down Allen its only going to open another door of easy offense for the Celtics.

If they dont then Ray will get his shots. Its really that simple.

So it really is important to have him on the court.

But we are deep right now, and Ray Allen will be huge IMO during the next 2 series provided we get there

[BudweiserCeltic]

Let's see. Game 3 vs. Atlanta. In 19 minutes of play (because it was a blowout), Ray took 9 FGA, and made 5 of them for 12 points. Clearly, giving Ray that many touches was disastrous.

Ray has been great for us in the playoffs, and considering that he's coming off the bench, and we're still have trouble with slow starts, I say the problem lies elsewhere.

[Celts Fan 92]

Ray is gone after dis year man lol hope some of you guys appreciate dis playoffs from him

[RajonRondOWNED]

Is our team better with Ray Allen? Of course.

We need him to win that title. Thats something we all can agree on.

But the days of "running offensive plays for Ray Allen" needs to come to an end, and I think Doc realized this.

Ray's plays basically involved Rondo sitting at the top of the key while waiting for Ray to come off of multiple screens. That is what you call stagnant offense, when nobody besides Ray and Rondo are involved in the play.

We saw a ton of ball movement, a ton of speed, a ton of transition buckets, and basically a brilliant offensive game that never had any droughts, or luls of "dang, we cant score for 8 minutes"

Ray only had 3 or so points last night, but I didnt matter, our main focus was and needs to continue to be getting inside for easy buckets, getting KG established in the post, and getting to the free throw line.

I love Ray Allen, but its been pretty clear for awhile now that his style of play is more suited to "end of game, 4th quarter situations" then it is when trying to build a lead.

Ray has bone spurs. You get them removed, and problem solved. Didn't Pierce have bone spurs in his ankles in the playoffs a couple years ago and suck it up?

[CelticHooligan3]

Agee 100% with the OP. I truly hope he breaks out of this slump but the numbers are seemingly going down each night. Something doesn't smell right with the whole situation.

I honestly have to wonder if the fact he was as good as traded and lost his starting spot has something to do with it. This is a prideful man were talking about and if that were the case part of me wouldn't blame him. But I also think he's a professional and until I'm shown otherwise I've always known him to act as one. So I don't know what the deal is really. But it's awfully un-Ray like.

When the trade rumors were swirling Donny Marshall (who usually indicates he's close to Ray) really went out of his way to emphasize how hurt and offended Ray was. And how after the season he was gone and didn't blame him for his treatment.

The thing is I beleive Danny has made it clear to the roster as a whole everyone is not untouchable and in that they have somewhat of an equality. He will listen to all offers and even kick the tires on some of his own.

[stylo617617]

ray gives good spacing on the floor which is something good for rondo/paul & KG at this stage ray's presence brings more to the team than his actuall stats

[greenpride32]

Ray dropped 17 in the game 2 loss.  He can still score if he gets his shots.  The problem is on the defensive end.  He gives up way too many uncontested easy buckets.  In a tight game, those 4-5 easy ones he lets go add up to be really big plays.  This is the reason AB is starting and possibly the reason the C's don't even offer Ray a contract for next year.

[celtics2]

Ray is gone after dis year man lol hope some of you guys appreciate dis playoffs from him

Lot's of his abilities will be gone also because Ray is doing the slow fade away act. Keep him coming off the bench. The Team crawls when he's in with the starters. Everyone gets old. It's a fact of life.

[rayallen1934]

Ray dropped 17 in the game 2 loss.  He can still score if he gets his shots.  The problem is on the defensive end.  He gives up way too many uncontested easy buckets.  In a tight game, those 4-5 easy ones he lets go add up to be really big plays.  This is the reason AB is starting and possibly the reason the C's don't even offer Ray a contract for next year.

its funny because hes been great on defense.

He practically shut down Evan Turner everytime he was on him.

Ray knows how to get to spots on defense when hes guarding someone.

The problem lies when he has to guard guys like Jrue Holiday. This is where he gets beat too much.

But if hes guarding Evan Turner who is quick but taller, he does very very well.

I dont know why people crap on his defense so much. He isnt great but theres no way hes a liability unless he has to guard point guards.